This was just my third time getting ashes. I went to a neighboring church that was part of our new “parish grouping.” Our father was celebrating, but he didn’t plan ahead for extraordinary ministers, so he asked if there were any in attendance who would volunteer. So, I think this was the EM’s first ash experience. I was near the front, so she hadn’t perfected her technique yet. I got about a quarter-pound of ash and oil. I could feel the weight of it. Went back to the pew and surreptitiously blotted it a little. That didn’t do much, except a chunk of black fell off me and bounced onto the pew. Once I was out of church and into the car, I tried to minimize my ashes, but more chunks fell off. After I got out of the car, I saw that my car upholstery was smeared with oily ash. (It came off with turpentine.)
I keep seeing others with tidy ash crosses, but in my three Ash Wednesdays I have been way over-ashed, in my opinion. As Ash Wed. isn’t a day of obligation and the ashes aren’t obligatory, I think I have finished with receiving ashes.